What goes on behind the line
by Grsaw
Summary: [Dropped] As the war goes on and Operation Northern Cross takes place, Riley and Claude find their quiet moments. Based on Valkyria Chronicles 4, spoilers from chapter 2 onward. I do not have a concrete plan for the story yet, other than it is a slice of life to develop their relationship. Rating might change later on if the story includes 18 stuff.
1. Chapter 1

The Reine operation not only liberate the city but also alleviate the mistrust between Riley and Claude. But as spectacular the result was, the operation didn't resolve all that lingered between them. For instance, how Claude yelled into the radio every time she ordered a barrage in the first live fire exercise to integrate the grenadiers into the squad.

"Short rounds, short rounds, check your fire."

"It's not short rounds. You're giving the wrong coordinates." Riley yelled back into the radio and almost slammed it to the ground. Statics filled the channel for more than minutes before Claude came back with completely different coordinates, targeting a different area in a different location two mountains over.

"Are you serious? These coordinates are completely off!" Riley said.

"It's the right one." He cut off short his answer and let statics be her friends again. She gripped the radio a little bit too hard as she turned around and shouted out the order. As she expected, even the logical no-nonsense Jascha found it hard not to frown.

"This is a new target, right? Didn't they call to adjust fire?" Connor asked.

"Just send the shots." Riley grunted and turned on the radio again. Sure enough, ten seconds later, Claude sent in another 'check your fire'.

When the exercise was over and the squad regrouped, she went straight to Claude and found him in his quarter.

"Technically, I'm still your superior." Claude said almost defensively as Riley stormed toward him.

"Permission to speak then. What the hell is that call to fire? Who's the observer that gave us those coordinates?"

"Ok, calm down. Let's not point fingers here."

"I'm not pointing fingers. We need better observers. Else our mortars will hit friendlies. I can teach whoever they are, but I need names. Even if it's you."

"Let's… let's talk about this tomorrow? I need to report to HQ." Claude said and slipped by Riley, leaving her alone in his quarter.

* * *

The one good thing about having a forward logistical base, aside from never running out of supply, was regular weekly shower and hot food. Riley never went through training and so was not yet accustomed to the lack of accommodation. She understood that she needed to get used to it, but for the time being, she enjoyed the services, especially after the frustrating day.

"Be fair, you stepped out of line, too. He's your superior, you know." Kai said.

"Technically, I'm his equal. We're not even in the same chain of command." Riley puffed up her cheeks. The girls in the next shower stalls laughed out loud Riley could hear it echoed.

"Maybe that's why he's acting weird. Doesn't know how to handle his girlfriend being in the same squad." Rita said.

"What? I'm not his girlfriend."

"Sure looks like it. He can't even talk straight when he's near you. And you just can't wait to jump him."

"Riley, ignore the poor soul. She's just too lonely to not play matchmaker." Brittany chimed in. "There's not much to do around camp, aside from drinking and gossiping."

"Yeah, Kai told us plenty about Claude's childhood, but we never heard anything about his girlfriend." Rita said.

"I'm not his girlfriend."

"Didn't say you were. Guess someone's being jumpy. Oh Brittany, when will my childhood friend join squad E?"

"Shut up."

Perhaps it was her, but the shower in Riley's stall got steamier.

"Anyway, while we were at the field today, who gave Claude the coordinates for fire mission?" Riley asked.

"Changing the subject, are we?"

"Drop it Rita. It was between Neige and Aladdin. Aside from the tank squads, us snipers are the only ones familiar us calling coordinates. The rest were never trained for that. They got team leaders to read maps for them as well. I guess that's something we can ask the higher-ups to train regularly." Kai said.

"That makes sense. We didn't have a lot of infantry and artillery coordination before."

"Aww this is getting boring. I'm out of here girls. Vancey's throwing a drinking tonight with some boys in our squad and others. Don't let Claude know you're coming."

Rita left the stall before Riley had a chance to respond while the others cracked up laughing.

* * *

Routine exercises continued for days. Claude had put in a report to delay more life fire exercise. Instead, he presided over the grenadiers' firing exercise, which Riley took to be his lack of confidence in her squad. Which pissed her off. There were also regular field training exercises that put her squad under his direct command. Despite her suggestion to put the grenadier squad some distance behind the main force, Claude ignored her and let her squad march alongside the main group. At least, her squad morale was getting high and they got along well with other members of squad E. Before she realized, even she referred to herself as a member of squad E and no longer a separate specialist squad. But what remained untangled was Claude. During today's field exercise, Riley lagged behind a bit and pulled Raz aside.

"What's his deal?" Riley whispered.

"What do you mean what's his deal?"

"Oh, don't play fool. He's avoiding me. I can't talk to him about the way he's handling the grenadiers. I can't even find him outside of training. Did he say anything to you?"

"No."

The way Raz scratched his chin and averted his eyes did not inspire her confidence in his word.

"Don't test me Raz. I have two untested high-caliber mortar rounds right here and I'll enjoy shoving one up yours."

"Woah, okay. Didn't expect that out of you. But no, do you really think he comes to me about his girl's problem?"

"So there really is a problem. What do you mean girl's problem?"

She could see sweat started forming on his brow as he swallowed dry, his Adam's apple jumped like an emergency alarm.

"Speak or I'll tell Kai you try to steal her laundry." Riley gritted.

"Did not! Okay, fine. He did come to me."

"And?" Riley grinned.

"Remember that one day when you stomped on his face because he looked up your skirt?"

"Did not!"

"Shh. Anyway, that makes him realize that he doesn't know how to treat you. As an officer, he cares for the squad as far as his professionalism allows. What he said, I don't understand what he means by that. But he also says that he wants to be close to you like how he is toward Kai and me. But he also can't play favorites because that will affect the others. He ranted a lot but I was sleepy that day so I don't remember everything. OK, okay, I lied, I didn't pay attention to all this mushy stuff he said. Are you happy now?"

"Good enough. But that doesn't explain why he doesn't talk to me about the grenadiers."

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not him. Stop grinning, you look creepy."

"Am not!"

Riley hid her face and teeth away from Raz and tried to put on her normal face before looking at Raz again.

"Thanks anyway."

"Don't tell Claude I said any of that. By the way, do you really have untested munitions in your loadout?"

"Yeah? Why would I lie about it? I'm testing a prototype. I'm bringing them along so I can fiddle with them when we have our break."

Riley grinned again and patted on the mortar munition case as if showing off her prize babies. The next thing she knew was a loud bang deafening her ears and white blinding her eyes.

* * *

Riley woke up to find herself on a bed in the infirmary. Empty beds lined up until the end of the aisle where a nurse slept on her desk. The dim lights in the room blinded the window until she got used to it and realized it was dark outside. She tried moving a little and let out a groan. Her legs felt stiff.

"Are you hurt?"

"Claude? You scared me."

Claude stood by her bedside, hastily wiped the side of his mouth but only after she spot the shining drool on his lip.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to. I just got here. Are you thirsty? Hungry? Should I get a nurse?"

"No, it's fine. I'm fine. What happened?"

The way Claude cleared his throat and put on a frown reminded Riley of her teacher in Vinland. She felt herself shrank a little, slipped a bit deeper beneath the blanket.

"What were you thinking bringing untested munitions to the field? Whatever you brought exploded and knocked you out cold. You're lucky that it was non-lethal."

"Lucky? Of course I know it's non-lethal. I designed it…. Sorry."

Riley completely retreated behind the blanket, pulling it over her nose and peaking out like a shy teenage girl. Finally, Claude uttered a smile.

"Well, you should rest. I reported to command. I told them that it was an expired mortar round. Minerva would chew the hell out of me so don't tell anyone about your experiment. We will have tomorrow off for you to recover, ok? I'll tell Kai and Raz you're fine."

"Wait."

Riley reached her hand out of the blanket and grabbed Claude by his sleeves. Perhaps it was sudden, or that her fingers touched him, but despite the dim light, she could see his face blushed redder than the Imperial flag.

"Y..yes?"

"Have you been avoiding me?" Riley asked. The student-teacher dynamic got reversed completely so quickly Riley had to hold back her laughs looking at his face. "Don't lie to me Claude. It takes an operation for me to trust you. You don't want to bet on the next one to regain my trust."

"Ok, yes, I'm sorry. I've been avoiding you." Finally, he said.

"Care to explain?"

"It was… I just…. I want to prove that I'm a reliable leader. That I'm no longer the shy kid running behind you in the Starchild Festival. And now, suddenly I'm your superior officer. I feel like I didn't deserve it. But I am also responsible to others, not just you. And now we have this issue with the new class and I don't know how to deal with it."

"And you thought you can find a solution on your own?"

"Yes." His voice grew softer.

"Did you?"

"No." He murmured. Riley grinned.

"Hey, I said I trust you. And I'm giving you this chance to prove that you've changed. But being reliable and being stubbornly stupid alone are two different things. I'm part of squad E now, right? Rely on me as well. You can come to me when you need. Maybe I'll help you with your girl's problems as well."

Riley cracked a hearty laugh as Claude's face couldn't be any redder.

"I do not have a girl's problem." He meekly defended himself. "Jokes aside, what do you propose for our problem? I thought about bringing the grenadiers to the frontline to act as supporting mortar. It will help with setting coordinates. But we will lose the artillery firepower. Then there's the safety concern that you raise."

"How about I go to the frontline with you?"

Perhaps it was because of his reddened face that Riley felt a spark of warmth in her cheeks.

"I mean, I'll go to the frontline and act as supporting mortar and observer for the artillery. I can send coordinates for artillery fire missions and use my mortar for smaller targets. How about that? Keep the grenadiers off the frontline while you get your personal howitzer."

"Brilliant!"

Riley cocked her head and grinned.

"That could work. No, that will work. I will draft a protocol and send it up the chain for approval. If things go fast, we can put it to practice the day after tomorrow." Claude said.

"So?" Riley puffed up her cheek.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I should have talked to you."

"That's right. You do have a "me" problem. Don't wait until I blow up my legs to talk to me, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Claude finally laughed comfortably and Riley joined in the chorus, waking up the nurse sleeping on the other end of the room. Claude gave one look at her and Riley could tell they screw up.

"Well, I should really let you sleep. It's already late. Get well soon. I'll need you on the field."

Riley swore she could hear Claude added 'with me' as he turned around and left. Regardless, she went to sleep unable to hide a grin.


	2. Chapter 2

Life at the Lindberg forward operating base had been easy. Squad E was amongst those that advanced the furthest across the Federation frontline, pushing the Empire back behind the Siegval Line. For now, Riley and the squad got some downtime waiting for the rest of the Army to catch up. They had so much downtime that there were talks amongst the command that extra drills and patrols would take place just to keep the squads on base active and disciplined. It would prove helpful since Riley had already started to think war wasn't so bad after all. There was nothing much for her to do, given that her latest experiment went wrong and got her banned from any more tinkling. Instead, Riley spent her hours getting used to playing with Rags.

"I've never imagined you're afraid of dogs." Kai said.

Riley didn't bother looking at Kai as she was so focused on Rags, sitting on her bed, stretching and fluffing his tail. Riley slowly reached her hand out and touched a finger on Rags' collar. Then onto the fur on the back of his head. And slowly started scratching his neck. Like a lion too proud to admit his feeling, Rags cocked his head back, looking stern but in fact inviting Riley's hand further, his tail wagging wildly.

"I'm not afraid of dogs. It's just that I've never had a pet before. Our dorm never allows animals. And I spent most of the time in the lab anyway. Even if I didn't, I wouldn't know if any of my colleagues had a dog. Speaking of, did you know that our lab had…"

"Air conditioning? Yeah, you told me probably a dozen times already." Kai said. Riley paused her nuzzling Rags and looked at Kai with puffed up cheeks.

"Just saying that playing with Raz would be so nice and warm in a lab."

"You're weird." Kai snickered.

Perhaps it was the way Riley looked at Rags with shining eyes as if he was one of her experiment or the way she examined Rags as if she was actually tinkling with a mortar round that made Kai giggle violently on her chair, rocking it back and forth and almost fell out of it. Riley ignored Kai and got more aggressive with her tinkling, using both hands to scratch all over Rags. Soon enough, she was holding Rags up and hugged him while rolling around on the bed.

"He's so fluffy." Riley exclaimed. Kai laughed out loud while Rags would have none of it. He growled in protest to protect his image of a prideful army dog, not a cute girl's cute play toy. But Riley's grip would convince him otherwise, and his tail wagged even faster.

"How did a dog like him end up in squad E anyway? I don't see any other dogs serving in the military." Riley poked her head behind all the furs and threw the question at the still laughing hysterically Kai.

"Oh well, he's actually quite important. I think Norid brought him along. Said he found Rags stranded on a mountain somewhere. Claude actually fought Minerva to allow Rags to become an official member of squad E. It was quite refreshing to see."

"Go on? You can't leave it hanging like that."

Riley slowed her hands. Rags seemed to pick up on the conversation and raised his head as well, looking at Kai and waiting for her, if not to nagged for more of Riley's scratching.

"Well, we can't keep sharing our food portion with Rags. And if he got sick, Karen wouldn't be allowed to use rationed medicines for him. So Claude simply thought that making him a service member would solve all of that. And Minerva prevented him precisely because of that, said it was a waste of resources. We all thought that Claude would have to let this one slide and left Rags in Edinburgh. Oh, that's right, it was in the early days of squad E, too. We just took on some dozen new members and were about to depart Edinburgh. So of course, no one paid attention to this fight over Rags. Almost half of the squad was new, didn't know Rags, didn't know Claude, and was just getting used to the new unit. We only learned about the fight once Rags boarded the transport ship with us." Kai said.

"Well? How did Claude do it?"

"Eh, well, so it started with Minerva finding out about Rags and filing a notice to the command to put Rags in a shelter. Then Claude submitted an official recruitment application for Rags as a squad mascot. After Minerva protested the command again to reject this application, he convinced Karen to take on Rags as a helper, and of course, she loved it. He submitted a different application but at this point command was fed up with this trivial stuff, they rejected it straight away and warned him not to pull this stun again. So in the end, he put himself through a martial court, laid out his reasoning that the squad would need a morale support and Rags would help both running supply and comforting us after intense fighting. That in the end won over even Minerva. She told us afterward that the court could have demoted Claude had it gone wrong so I was really surprised Claude went and did it."

"Yeah, it is surprising. I can never imagine Scaredy Claude put himself on fire like that." Riley said. "Is this fellow really that important to make Claude risk his career?"

"Oh, he sure is. He is the cheerleader that bonds the squad together after we landed on the continent. And then he helps out with first aid on the battlefield where Karen can't reach. But then again, I can't tell if Claude foresaw all of this back in Edinburgh. Can't tell if he was such a dog person."

"Never mind Claude, Rags sure is a good boy, aren't you?" Riley nuzzled Rags on his head and he howled proudly.

"Never mind Rags, what about Claude?" Kai asked.

"What about him?" Riley asked, donning a face as innocent as that of Rags not knowing why Riley's hands stopped scratching him.

"You two childhood friends barely spend any time together after what, ten years not seeing each other? I didn't see him and Raz for two years and we spent days just catching up."

Riley really hated the cheeky smile Kai put on right now.

"Well, childhood friends or not, he's a first lieutenant, right? I'm not about to go kissing asses or play favorites."

"Since when do you care about ranking, science officer Riley?"

"Okay, spill it Kai, did Claude pay you to make him look good or something?"

"Oh no, this is entirely my doing. He used to have a crush on you, you know? I just thought it'll spice up the base having such a wonderful story. Childhood friends separated and reunited on the battlefield to find love."

"Shut up, you spent far too much time with that Rita girl."

Rags would be proud to know he provided good cover for Riley from Kai at this moment.

* * *

Life at the Lindberg forward base wasn't all that easy as Riley soon came to know. After one action in which Claude and Raz's patrol squad was rescued after being surrounded, Riley and Raz were summoned to Claude's quarter post action. Raz was ordered to court-martial for disobeying a direct order because his running off had led his patrol squad to danger. And then there was Riley.

"Court-martial for assaulting a superior officer? Care to explain?"

Riley gripped the letter, almost crumbling it, as she glared down a shrinking Claude sitting on his ass and a smirking Minerva next to him.

"In the post-action at Fort Krest on the 10th, when linking up with lieutenant Claude's squad E, science officer Riley assaulted lieutenant Claude by slapping him on the face. Is it correct?" Minerva said. Riley barely opened her mouth in shock before Minerva continued. "Well then, that is sufficient ground for a court-martial."

"This is just petty Minerva." Raz said.

"Whatever you say. I won't allow such insubordination in the division, especially when we are in a lull right before a major operation to break through line Siegval. All personnel must be in top shape and ready for the operation at all time. Such infraction only weakens morale and discipline in the base. As a ranking officer, I can't allow that."

"And not a disguise of your pettiness against Claude?" Raz said.

"Runs your mouth. I'll put another charge on you in addition to your insubordination."

"You!"

Minerva smirked at Raz's response and promptly left the quarter once she felt satisfied with her gloating. Riley caught on to this mean girl routine soon enough, she wouldn't give Minerva the satisfaction. But then she turned to face Claude.

"What the hell, Claude?" She finally exploded. Claude looked like he was sitting on spikes.

"Yeah, what the hell Claude? What's all this court-martial business about?"

"Well she has a point, and the higher-ups approve her draconian discipline. I couldn't talk them out of this order. And I think she has a point." Claude said, and hastily added as Riley began to rile up. "I mean, Raz's charging headfirst at the enemy without support on a patrol could have gone much worse without your squad coming to the aid. And Raz, I told you repeatedly that kind of action is a punishable offense. That said, there are options."

"Options?"

"Technically, I've never given you the order to pull back during the action. You did not disobey any direct order. But we'll have to go through court to get you off this charge because the higher-ups are also bored. They're also waiting like us and something like both entertains them and reminds everyone else of discipline. The other easy option is I give you some punishment in name and they have some talking points."

"Nah, screw it, bring me to court. I'll show those hothead bastards there's nothing wrong with killing Imperial no matter how I do it." Raz howled.

"I'd rather you not. It'll leave a bad record on your profile and a lot of paperwork on my desk." Claude sighed.

"Really? Aren't you going to have my back?"

"I offer my best advice as your friend. But, if that's what you want, don't be surprised if they discharge you for dishonoring the corps." Claude smiled bitterly followed by Raz's howls. Then Riley shoved Raz to the side and pounded her fist on Claude's table.

"What. About. Me?"

Riley wiped clean the cheers on Raz's face and reduced him to a scared child. Compared to him, Claude looked nothing more than a mouse backed into a corner by a cat twice his size. The air froze, so dense that Riley felt like a witch choking the air out of her squadmates.

"Well?"

She pressed on. Claude scratched his cheek the way he would try to think of something to say. Raz muttered quietly "I'll be outside" before making his escape.

"I told you to be more open with me, didn't I? What's there to hide from me this time?" Riley said.

"Yes, you did." Claude said.

"And?"

"But…"

"But?"

"…"

Riley took a step back and sighed.

"Alright, I'll spill the bean first." Riley said. "I was in the wrong for slapping you. I was so surprised to see you there after all those years and couldn't help myself. And I was still a greenhorn then. I mean I still am, but I wasn't as familiar with military rules then. So I'll take my punishment either way. That said, what's with you?"

She stared at Claude still refused or unable to voice his mind.

"Is it true that you have a crush on me way back when?" Riley said. Then burst out laughing at Claude's shied eyes, blushed face and looking away. She pulled a chair over and sat down across from Claude.

"Sorry, that was mean of me. I was just thinking that adult Claude, leader of a distinguished unit, unfazed in the face of fire in the battlefield, yet unable to overcome a childhood crush." She said.

"Can't be helped. I never thought I'd see you again when I signed up in Edinburgh, much less to fight alongside you." Claude said. "It pains me too, you know, feeling like I've never grown up all this time as soon as I see you."

"Okay, okay, rein it in." Riley smiled. "Might not be the right time to have a confession here. You're still a squad leader. Don't play favorites."

Claude looked at her and finally smiled. The kind of smile that differed from his usual restrained, awkward corner-raised cheek-reddened one he uttered every time. The genuine kind that made Riley smile.

"But, with all that said, can we start fresh? I'm no longer the Claude you know. And I want to prove that."

"What's with this seriousness? You already told me that."

Claude wouldn't say anything more. His face reddened, but he held his composure, fixing his gaze on her. She finally stopped smiling, cleared her throat before responding.

"Okay, let's start fresh."

She nodded.

* * *

In the end, Riley took her punishment by cleaning the toilet for a week. She suspected that Claude went behind her back and told the squad to be mindful when using the facility, but she let it slide. Raz on the other hand, went to trial. Today was the day of the trial, and it wasn't until dinner when squad E saw an exhausted and possibly annoyed Claude strolling into the mess hall with an ever-happy-lasting Raz. Riley was sitting with Kai when the duo entered and Raz loudly proclaimed his victory. Everyone else raised their glasses and cheered for the supposed hero of the battle while Claude sneaked off to Riley's table.

"You don't look so happy." Riley said.

"I'm not happy. Raz got off scot-free but they pushed all the blame on me for not reported clearly on the action, leading to wasted time setting up the committee and all that. They would have put me in division to run desk work as punishment had Minerva not intervened. I guess I owed her one. In the end, they chewed me off for hours after letting Raz go."

"Well done." Kai said and slow-clapped. Claude just grunted and laid his head over the table.

"Hey, what's up? What did I miss?" Raz entered the scene like a storm, taking the seat next to Riley across from Kai.

"You leaving Claude to be chewed up?" Riley said.

"Oh, screw those old baldies. They're just jealous of us getting all the credits killing Imps on the battlefield."

"That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works." Kai said.

"They'll get the bigger credits, you know? We're just grunts doing the dirty works." Claude said.

"Even I know that Raz." Riley cocked her head and smirked. "Back in my lab, whenever I discovered something, the heads of the lab always claim the credit first before sparing scrapes for us lab grunts. Speaking of, I still can't get over the fact that our division leader's face is exactly the same as…"

"Your chief in the lab, we get it." Raz and Kai almost spoke at the same time before Kai added further. "You probably told us this a dozen times."

"Well, I haven't heard about it." Claude chimed in. And then Riley's eyes lit up brighter than that of Raz.

"Get this, I had this chief when I was in Vinland who looked exactly like our division leader. Not the bald guy that does the briefing but the other guy that got driven around in that funny looking jeep. I kid you not, they even have the same manner of speech and that same annoying way of calling out to people…"

Riley went off into her world, bringing Claude along for the night, until his stomach growled and demanded she released him from captivity.


End file.
